Chants host UNF in opener; winner travels to Tar Heels

The Coastal Carolina men’s soccer team gathered in the Alan LeForce Suite the HTC Center on Monday to learn, with the rest of the nation, its first round opponent to the NCAA Championships by watching the national NCAA.com webcast. The verdict was the Atlantic Sun Conference champion North Florida Ospreys.

The match is scheduled for Thursday at 6 p.m. on the Coastal Carolina University campus. Thursday’s winner advances to face fifth-seeded North Carolina on Sunday, Nov. 22.

The Chanticleers claimed one of 24 at-large NCAA Championship berths based on their regular season body of work. The Chanticleers own a 12-2-4 record and are ranked 20th nationally. This will be Coastal’s 12th NCAA berth and the 10th under head coach Shaun Docking, who led the Chants to the NCAA postseason in 2001, ‘02, ‘03, ‘04, ‘05, ‘10, ’11, ’12, ’13 and ‘14. Thursday will mark the fifth straight and sixth overall time Coastal has hosted an NCAA Men’s Soccer Championship match.

North Florida punched its ticket to the Tournament with a 7-0 victory over USC Upstate in Sunday’s Atlantic Sun Conference title match. The Ospreys are 10-6-1 (4-0-1 Atlantic Sun) on the season and are riding a three-game winning streak.

Last season the Chanticleers hosted and defeated Florida Gulf Coast, 1-0, in the first round of the NCAA Tournament as Martin Melchor’s SportsCenter top-10 goal proved to be the game-winner. Coastal then went on the road and fell in a tight match to Clemson.

Tickets for the NCAA First Round are available by calling the CCU Athletics Ticket Office at 843-347-8499. Ticket prices are set for $7 for adults and $5 for youth (high school age and below) and students with a valid ID. All tickets are general admission; bleachers are first-come, first-served.